Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid shared a list of “achievements” for women over the last three years as a means of recognizing the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25.
“In the past three years, through the efforts of the Muhtasebeen of the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue, Prevention of Vice and hearing complaints, around 20,000 (twenty thousand) women have been provided with inheritance, Mhar (dowry), and other fundamental rights,” he wrote on X. He explained these rights were “previously taken from them due to harmful customs, traditions, and baseless notions of honor or zeal in society. Only, in the last six months, 1,000 (one thousand) similar cases have been registered and resolved.”
The message went on to claim that “in the past three years, the Ministry has prevented 5,000 (five thousand) marriages where women were forced into marriage either under duress, in exchange for money, or against their will, and where underage girls were being married off to old men In the last six months alone.”
Discussing the prevention of domestic violence, the spokesman said that “with the efforts of the Ministry of propagation of virtue, prevention of vice and hearing complaints Domestic violence against women, such as belittling them, physical and mental violence, depriving them of their Islamic rights, and treating them with disrespect based on harmful customs, has been prevented. Only, in the last six months, 1,000 (one thousand) such cases have been recorded and resolved.”
American Faith reported that the Taliban recently passed laws restricting women’s rights, including bans on speaking in public, showing their faces, and venturing outside without a male escort.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, says the law “silences women’s voices and deprives them of their autonomy.”
“This is utterly intolerable,” Shamdasani stated. “We call on the de facto authorities to immediately repeal this legislation, which is in clear violation of Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights law.”
